Chase - Pure Music (1974)

The last album before his death in a tragic plane accident, Pure Music shows the band moving in a very different direction than previous albums with an emphasis on instrumental rather than vocal material. The only two vocals on the album are "Run Back to Mama" and "Love is on the Way," and frankly this is some of the weaker material on the album. While Chase had used a lot of outside writers on past albums, the instrumental material on Pure Music is penned entirely by its leader. The album opens with "Weird Song #1," a tune based on a groove in 9/4 with various superimpositions. By 1974 Chase had more fully embraced electronic aspects in his music, which "Weird Song #1" is a great example. In addition to featuring a Chase "electric trumpet" solo (that's how it's credited on the album), the track also has an other-wordly synth solo by new band member Wally Yohn. "Run Back to Mama" was written by Chase and Jim Peterik, the vocalist of Ides of March fame ("Vehicle") brought in by the label who was never a full-time member of the group. This track is a very straight-ahead tune with a driving bass line and the cascading trumpet lines Chase was known for. "Twinkles" is an unusual track on the album, as it was not common that Chase had ballads on his albums, let alone those that were acoustic. "Twinkles" shows Chase's ability on the flugelhorn and the sensitivity to lyricism that the listener wouldn't get from his typical forays in the stratosphere of the upper register of the trumpet. What's interesting about this track compared to the rest of his repertoire is that the opening of the tune features a bass ostinato upon which everything is layered; this is not so different as having a groove be the basis for a tune. "Bochawa" is a great full energy tune that is named for the soloists it features. "Bo stands for "BoReebie," a nickname for Jerry Van Blair, one of the strongest jazz soloists in the band. "Cha" stands for Chase, and "Wa" stands for Wally Yohn. What's interesting is that while this tune was used in tour before the recording of this album, its new band trumpeter Jay Sollenberger that is featured, not Jerry Van Blair. "Bochawa" has a great 12/8 funk groove that is a perfect showcase for Chase's lead playing and high note work as well as Wally Yohn's virtuosity on the organ. At the close of the tune, the listener will also hear a short solo by John Emma, a young guitarist from Illinois that showed a lot of promise as a jazz player before his life was tragically cut short by the plane crash that also killed Bill Chase, Wally Yohn, and Walter Clark. "Love Is on the Way" is another one of the commercially-oriented tunes on the band, but is the stronger one compared to "Run Back to Mama." The track starts out with a groove in the electric piano and a rhythmic accompaniment on guiro that builds to include the harmonized vocals and the famous Chase horn lines. "Close Up Tight," my personal favorite, closes the album and is a tour de force of the Chase sound and concept. This track begins with a motif that is stated in the synth and is transferred to the trumpets as it climbs two octaves to rest on Chase's high G (Concert F). However, after this motif the drums enter playing a swing rhythm on the hi-hat. This beat is slower than what might be present in a bebop tune, but what's important is that this is not a rock beat. Chase always sought to play music that was both the best of jazz and the best of rock, and "Close Up Tight" is a perfect example of this conception. In the original liner notes it reads, "'This is 1974. The music I make must be today. . . . It's got to be a reflection of the times and the world we live in, or to me it just doesn't make it.'" While it's no longer 1974, Chase's music is still in my opinion a pinnacle of the genre of jazz-rock.

Chase - Ennea (1972)

I was going to wait a bit longer to post this, but as some may have noticed if you visited yesterday my other post was deleted. Chase is a favorite of mine, and while their final album is undoubtedly my favorite, Ennea is much more like Pure Music than their first album. The Greek translation of "nine," Ennea is named for the nine members of Chase and the Greek Suite which would have originally been on one side of the LP. Ennea sees Bill Chase and his band breakaway from the norms of jazz-rock and move into a more original sound incorporating elements of funk and even Middle Eastern music. Addressing the music aside from the suite, "So Many People" is the standout track and was the single when the album was released in 1972. Unfortunately, it did not chart as well as expected, so Chase wasn't in the limelight as much as when his first album took off. "I Can Feel It" and "It Won't Be Long" are also memorable tracks that primarily feature G.G. Shinn, the vocalist of the band at the time, along with solo breaks reminding the listener how much command of the upper register Bill Chase had. "Swanee River" is a real oddity of a track. Apparently, Bill Chase was working on an original composition when G.G. Shinn noted that it had the same chord changes as "Swanee River," so the original tune was scrapped and this was the result. However, the real treasure of the album is definitely the suite. Part of the reason this album didn't sell well is because of the suite, because it isn't that accessible to the untrained listener. The Greek Suite is hands down the least commercial music Chase ever released. Even though there are vocals, it's pretty obvious from the opening cadenza of "Cronus" that the real focus is Bill Chase and the trumpet section. There are a variety of influences across the suite from rock, jazz, and even Middle Eastern music. In many parts of "Zeus" the track sounds more like an uptempo jazz chart than anything rock related. My personal favorite of the suite is "Aphrodite Part II" which is actually in a double harmonic scale (Bayati if you use the Middle Eastern name). Roughly, it is a major scale with lowered second and sixth degrees. Bill Chase was a critically well received arranger even before Chase when he was lead trumpet for Woody Herman, and it is the Greek suite which really exemplified this reputation. Unfortunately, it is probably one of the most skimmed-over part of his discography. I own the entire Chase discography on vinyl, and this album in particular makes me lament the end of the LP. It's not that I hate new formats, but the liner artwork in the album is particularly intriguing and it is the little things like that that you lose in the plastic cases they use today.

Chase - Listen to Her Sing (1996)

This is not an officially released album, but chronologically it falls between their second and third released albums. This album is very rare as it was released in the 90s to a small print run. It shows a band in transition; those familiar with the Chase discography will recognize some tunes, but a fair amount of the tunes are new material in familiar styles but also drastically different ones. The first and last groups of tracks are actually from live concerts, but the middle of the album is entirely unreleased studio recordings. Actually, the reason this material was never released is because the majority of it did not fit the mold of what Epic wanted Chase to sound like. A personal favorite "Listen to Her Sing," a ballad, which while primarily a vocal tune showcases Bill Chase during a high note melodic part and has a very memorable guitar solo. The track "Dead" shows how well the Chase trumpet section is in the upper register as well as singer G.G. Shinn's control of the stratosphere of his tenor voice. Of the familiar material "Close Up Tight," is a fine early rendition of the closing track of Pure Music. It swings more than its later counterpart, has driving bass lines, and showcases a variety of soloists of the band. Unusually, trumpeter Ted Piercefield takes a solo on valve trombone, an instrument not typically heard on a Chase recording. Most impressively, the final solo of the tracks taken by trumpeter Jerry Van Blair show a very mature, fantastic jazz soloist with connected, interesting lines. For all the flak jazz-rock takes for being an attempt at commercial appeal of jazz in the 60s and the 70s, Chase often overcomes this notion with some of their tracks. From the solos, the writing, and the outlook of the band Chase and its leader Bill Chase was a nonet playing jazz and rock and doing both well.

Chase - Chase (1971)

For my first few posts I wanted to pick a few albums that while they aren't necessarily rare or unheard of they do have a lot of personal history. This album is from 1971 when the jazz-rock craze was in its height. There are many jazz rocks group around this period, but Chase was a bit different from the rest. Four trumpets with a rhythm section was a bit different from the instrumentations that other groups such as Blood, Sweat & Tears were using at the time. The leader of the band, Bill Chase, actually had a lot of history in the jazz world. He played with Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton for brief stints during the late 1950s, and he most notably played with one of Woody Herman's finest groups throughout the entirety of the 1960s. Chase was never a "jazz" player in the sense that he was not the next great soloist; Chase was a lead player. His sound in the high register of the trumpet while not as flexible as some others has a raw timbre that is unmistakable and really meshes well with the jazz-rock genre. His mastery of the high notes is featured most notably on the opening track "Open Up Wide" and on the "Invitation to a River" suite that closes the album. This was the first Chase album I was ever exposed to, but it's not actually my favorite. If you have ever heard Chase before it was probably the track "Get It On," which really put Chase in the limelight in the early 1970s. The group was actually nominated for a Grammy award for Best New Artist, but lost to Carly Simon. If you like jazz rock, but you don't like vocals you may find yourself skipping through songs on this album. However, while the vocals aren't great, there is nothing that is particularly offensive either. If you want the instrumentals stick to "Open Up Wide" and "Invitation to a River." This is one of those albums that is loud and in your face but timeless once you experience the virtuosity of the musicians.